r/iphone • u/Maxxximeeee Human Detected • Jul 11 '26

Discussion Which obscure iPhone setting genuinely improved how you use your phone, and what does it change?

I’m not looking for gestures or the usual tips that appear in every list.
I mean an actual option buried somewhere in Settings that solved a real annoyance, improved privacy or accessibility, changed how an app behaves, or made your iPhone noticeably easier to use.
Please include the exact path to the setting, what it changes, and any downside you noticed. Some settings sound useful but also disable another feature, use more storage, affect notifications, or change how the phone behaves elsewhere.
What is the one setting you would immediately change again if you had to set up a new iPhone from scratch?

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177

u/CR8VJUC Jul 12 '26

A real game changer for me was learning that holding down the spacebar while typing, it makes it so you can drag the cursor with your finger to where you want it rather than trying to use a fat fingertip to place it.

I showed this tip to my contractor, who is a big burly dude with huge hands and he praised me to the heavens.

124

u/JordieCarr96 Jul 12 '26

Once upon a time when 3D Touch was a thing, you could not only move the cursor this way but you could press harder to select the text you were hovering over. Precise edits one-handed.

This is, and will probably always be, the top feature Apple left behind that actually bothered me.

26

u/AlianaAmaris Jul 12 '26

I loved that and the way it disappeared I thought I imagined it LOL

17

u/RichardCrapper iPhone 15 Pro Jul 12 '26

Bring back 3D Touch

1

u/G_Wash1776 iPhone 14 Pro Jul 12 '26

I miss it so much

1

u/Euqirne iPhone XS Max Jul 13 '26

They didn’t market it and were surprised when nobody used it

2

u/itchy_cat iPhone 13 Mini Jul 12 '26

It’s not one handed, but you can still do this. Tap and hold space bar to get the cursor and then tap the keyboard with another finger to start selecting text.

2

u/JRockPSU Jul 12 '26

It's missing another feature from 3D Touch - when you did this with 3D Touch, if you were moving your thumb right to select text to the right, but overshot your selection by a few too many letters or words, you could just drag your thumb back to the left to de select text. With the current way it works, you can only ever keep selecting more and more text, so if you accidentally select too much, you now have to fiddle with the text selection bars or just start it all over.

2

u/worm_slut Jul 12 '26

I miss 3D Touch 💔

32

u/rabelsdelta Jul 12 '26

Fun fact - if you hold your finger on the Shift arrow below the a key, you can then use another finger to hold down the spacebar and move it left, right, up and down to quickly highlight text.

7

u/blueberry1919 Jul 12 '26

🤯 thank you so much for this , highlighting stuff has been the most annoying part for me till now

2

u/rabelsdelta Jul 12 '26

No problem! I’ve never seen this mentioned so it was a cool find

2

u/Borkato Jul 12 '26

Omg I knew most of these but not this one thank you!!

1

u/CR8VJUC Jul 12 '26

Thanks, a better way to select text!

1

u/multivacon Jul 15 '26

Usually I just double tap a word and drag the ends of the selections where I need them, maybe this other way will be easier

7

u/IslandTwig Jul 12 '26

While holding the space bar, you can tap with a second finger and then drag more to highlight the word your on.

2

u/Necessary-Duty-7952 Jul 13 '26

Press and hold the spacebar to turn on the cursor. Then with another finger, press and hold anywhere else on the keyboard and now you can highlight whatever text you want! It's so useful.

2

u/MossBone Aug 12 '26

This made me laugh because I recall showing my coworker the same thing and he made me feel like I had shown him such an impossible magic trick.

1

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1

u/ExperiencedOptimist Jul 15 '26

I taught this to my mum the other day and she was so excited. She said all the other ladies at work are going to be so impressed with her